Michael Parkhurst fouls rarely -- just five times in 2,197 minutes this season, good enough to claim the league's Fair Play award.

"He has a good soccer brain," coach Steve Nicol says. "He reads the game very well. It's kind of like a snooker player, you're looking two or three moves ahead, and that's exactly what he does."

He shoots even more rarely -- just once in three regular seasons. That was in the season finale at Toronto, and he didn't even venture into the Toronto half as he shot. See the result in this video.

"As soon as I hit it, I thought it might have a chance," Parkhurst says. "But when it got closer to the goal, I thought it was actually going to go over. The way it hit the net and came back out, I still wasn't sure."

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Playoff picture: New England is the only higher seed not trailing 1-0 after the first leg. D.C. United didn't muster much offense with injured Fs Luciano Emilio (ankle) and Jaime Moreno (ankle) seeing limited playing time. They're hoping to help United avoid a repeat of the 2005 series, when Chicago stunned the D.C. faithful 4-0. Game time: 7:30 today, ESPN2.

How are the New England Patriots 8-0? How have the Boston Red Sox won two of the last four World Series?

"It's all because of me. Because they hadn't done so well until I got here," said New England Revolution goalkeeper Matt Reis, who arrived in 2003 from the Los Angeles Galaxy.

While Reis' arrival and New England's recent glory are merely coincidental, he has been part of a Revolution core that's on the verge of reaching the Major League Soccer conference finals for the sixth consecutive year, facing New York at home Saturday (Fox Soccer Channel, 7:30 p.m. ET) after holding the Red Bulls to a scoreless tie in Game 1 of their two-leg, total goals series.

More than half of the Revolution's starters, plus coach Steve Nicol, have been together at least five of those six years. "When you have so much turnover, it's tough to gel and become a tight unit like we have," says Steve Ralston, MLS' all-time assists leader.

But like the Red Sox for so many years, the Revs faced playoff demons. Last month, New England might have exorcised them with the club's first trophy — the U.S. Open Cup, claimed with a 3-2 decision in Dallas.

"It might take a little bit of pressure off," Ralston says. "We know what it takes. We've won something now; it kind of gets the monkey off the back a little bit."

Little wonder the Revs sound relaxed. The 0-0 score is better than the 1-0 deficit New England faced at this stage the last two years.

"The game on Saturday in New York was definitely about experience and players that had been there before," Nicol says.

Even the relative newcomers play with presence of mind. Nicol praised third-year defender Michael Parkhurst for taking a rare blemish on his disciplinary record — his first yellow card of the season — to stop a New York counterattack.

"There's smart fouls, and there's bad fouls," Nicol says. "That was a smart foul. He knew exactly what he was doing. It was one of those things that's accepted in a game."

Parkhurst's presence of mind now extends to the offensive end. In the regular-season finale at Toronto, he took his first career shot from midfield that flew into the net.

"I don't know if that was a good thing for him to score that goal, because now he thinks he's a center-forward," Ralston says.

At least it's a good way to stand out among successful teams in the area. The NBA's Celtics made huge strides in the offseason, and Boston College is vying for a national football title.

Ralston praises the team's loyal fans and notes the Revs drew nearly 23,000 people for its regular-season finale even though it coincided with a Red Sox playoff game.

But perhaps another trophy would make more people notice. "It's a great sports town, but there are some great teams up here, and it's tough for us to get into the media," Parkhurst says. "We're going to have to follow suit to get some love."

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Revolution goalie Matt Reis signs autographs after the MLS team's first-round playoff match against New York last weekend.

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